1. Greek Homosexuality

2. “Omit: a reference to the unspeakable vice of the Greeks” -Professor interrupting a student during a translation of a Greek text, from the novel Maurice, written in 1914.

3. Outline
Introduction
Examples of Male-Male Sexual Relationships in Ancient Greece
A Fundamentally Uneven Relationship
Debates about Greek Homosexuality
Conclusion: Why Talk About This?

4. Intro Homosexuality not a category Greeks had a word for
“Gender” and “Sexuality”

5. Examples of Male-Male Sexual Relationships in Ancient Greece
Sacred Band of Thebes

6. Examples of Male-Male Sexual Relationships in Ancient Greece
Sacred Band of Thebes
The Spartans

7. Examples of Male-Male Sexual Relationships in Ancient Greece
Sacred Band of Thebes
The Spartans
“Kalos” and the Symposia

8. Examples of Male-Male Sexual Relationships in Ancient Greece
Sacred Band of Thebes
The Spartans
“Kalos” and the Symposia
Greek Myth: Zeus and Ganymede

9. Examples of Male-Male Sexual Relationships in Ancient Greece
Sacred Band of Thebes
The Spartans
“Kalos” and the Symposia
Greek Myth: Zeus and Ganymede
Harmodius and Aristogeiton

10. Examples of Male-Male Sexual Relationships in Ancient Greece
Sacred Band of Thebes
The Spartans
“Kalos” and the Symposia
Greek Myth: Zeus and Ganymede
Harmodius and Aristogeiton
Lots of others

11. Examples of Male-Male Sexual Relationships in Ancient Greece
Sacred Band of Thebes
The Spartans
“Kalos” and the Symposia
Greek Myth: Zeus and Ganymede
Harmodius and Aristogeiton
Lots of others
Broader cultural perspective: appreciation of male beauty

12. Examples of Male-Male Sexual Relationships in Ancient Greece
Sacred Band of Thebes
The Spartans
“Kalos” and the Symposia
Greek Myth: Zeus and Ganymede
Harmodius and Aristogeiton
Lots of others
Broader cultural perspective: appreciation of male beauty
Not a “liberated” attitude

13. A Fundamentally Uneven Relationship
Pederasty
Erastes and Eramenos
Masculine/Active vs. Feminine/Boyish/Passive

14. Historian David Halperin says…
“Sexual partners came in two significantly different kinds—not male and female but ‘active’ and ‘passive’, dominant and submissive. That is why the currently fashionable distinction between heterosexuality and homosexuality …had no meaning for the Classical Athenians…; there was…a single form of sexual experience in which all free adult males shared –making due allowance for variations in individual taste.”

15. A Fundamentally Uneven Relationship
Pederasty
Erastes and Eramenos
Masculine/Active vs. Feminine/Boyish/Passive
Halperin argues: importance of hierarchy, division into active/passive, dominance/submission

16. A Fundamentally Uneven Relationship
Pederasty
Erastes and Eramenos
Masculine/Active vs. Feminine/Boyish/Passive
Halperin argues: importance of hierarchy, division into active/passive, dominance/submission
Social context of relationship

17. A Fundamentally Uneven Relationship
Pederasty
Erastes and Eramenos
Masculine/Active vs. Feminine/Boyish/Passive
Halperin argues: importance of hierarchy, division into active/passive, dominance/submission
Social context of relationship
Has an endpoint and NOT exclusive with opposite-sex relationships

18. Debates About Greek Homosexuality
How widely practiced was it?

19. Debates About Greek Homosexuality
How widely practiced was it?
How widely accepted was it?

20. Debates About Greek Homosexuality
How widely practiced was it?
How widely accepted was it?
Female-Female Sexual Relationships?

21. Debates About Greek Homosexuality
How widely practiced was it?
How widely accepted was it?
Female-Female Sexual Relationships?
Was there a Greek category of “Homosexuality” similar to our own?

22. Why Talk about This?
The risk of perpetuating the silence. Homosexuality exists in lots of cultures

23. Why Talk about This?
The risk of perpetuating the silence. Homosexuality exists in lots of cultures
Sexuality and Citizenship

24. Why Talk about This?
The risk of perpetuating the silence. Homosexuality exists in lots of cultures
Sexuality and Citizenship
Reminder: our sexuality/gender categories not universal